Crown Prince chairs Cabinet session (5/5/14)

May 5, 2014

Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired the Cabinet session at Al-Salam palace in Jeddah today. At the outset, the Council praised the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz for his support for Saudi sports and culture, citing his patronage of the inauguration of the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah last week. It also expressed pride in the high level of readiness maintained by the Saudi Armed Forces, as demonstrated during the massive “Saif Abdullah” military exercises carried out recently in Hafr Al-Baten.

Discussing foreign relations, the Cabinet was briefed on the Riyadh Statement issued by the 3rd Meeting of Ministers of Culture of Arab and South American Countries, in which the participants recommended strengthening cultural cooperation between the Arab world and South America. The ministers commended the contents of the final communiqué of the Friends of Yemen Conference in London, which was jointly chaired by Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Britain. They also expressed their condolences to the government and people of Afghanistan in the wake of the deadly landslide in the province of Badakhshan.

The Cabinet welcomed Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, who was recently appointed by King Abdullah to the position of Minister of State and Member of the Council of Ministers, wishing him success.

Finally, the Council discussed the 5th Scientific Conference of Students in Higher Education, lauding its themes of encouraging creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in the Kingdom.

Addressing its remaining agenda items, the Cabinet approved an administrative organizational plan for the General Presidency of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (GPPVPV); decided that income derived from fines or goods seized by Saudi Customs officers be handled in accordance with the Law of Common Customs of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC); approved the implementation of the decision of the GCC Supreme Council in its 33rd session on the adoption of the Uniform Law for Mining; and approved the adoption of the final account of the Railways Authority for fiscal year 1433/1434 H.

The Cabinet approved the appointments of Dr. Hussein Al-Sharif as Undersecretary for Hajj at the Ministry of Hajj (15th rank); Mohammed Al-Traif as Assistant to the President at the Saudi Wildlife Authority (14th rank); and Riad Khalifa as Assistant Undersecretary for Health Economics at the Ministry of Health (14th rank).